Binghamton Mets spoil Sea Dogs’ home opener

PORTLAND, Maine — The Binghamton Mets spoiled the Portland Sea Dogs home opener with a 5-1 win Thursday night at Hadlock Field before a crowd of 5,227.

Portland starter Brock Huntzinger quickly retired the first two batters of the game, including striking out the Mets leadoff hitter Pedro Zapata. The Mets loaded the bases with two outs with a single by Allan Dykstra and two walks when Marte tagged Huntzinger for two runs with a two-run bases loaded single.

Portland (1-7) responded in their half of the first when Sea Dogs leadoff batter Juan Carlos Linares launched the first pitch over the centerfield fence for his second home run of the season cutting the lead in half. Portland would load the bases in the first but would fail to score again. Derrick Gibson picked up his first Double-A hit and Bryce Brentz collected his first Hadlock Field hit in the inning.

The Mets (3-3) extended the lead in the third inning when Marte drove in his third run of the game with a groundout, scoring Matt Den Dekker. Josh Rodriguez added a two-run double.

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Binghamton starter Collin McHugh (1-1) held the Portland offense to just one run on seven hits over 6⅔ innings. He struck out six and did not walk a batter.

Huntzinger (0-2) suffered the loss, yielding five runs on six hits over four innings.

Jeremy Kehrt pitched four shutout innings of relief for Portland, allowing one hit, two walks, and struck out five.